Signs That You Should Go Plant-Based

Sometimes our bodies give us warning signs that our diets are not serving us well.  Minor day to day ailments might be the result of what you eat (or don’t eat)! Don’t overlook the subtle clues that your body is dishing out. With the rise in the high protein, low-carb craze, plants often get pushed off the plate.  Is your body giving you warning signs that you should go plant-based?

There could be tremendous healing power in what we eat. Unfortunately, the opposite might be true as well.  From brain fog to kidney stones and even weight gain, are you overlooking health signs that you should be making more room for plants and less room for dairy or animal products? Ditching meat all together might help you alleviate some of your ailments.  BUT eating less animal products + more plants might be enough to help diminish those nagging symptoms. My tips this week go through the warning signs to look out for when your body needs a change.

Tara’s Tuesday Tips:

Warning Signs That You Should Go Plant-Based

Feeling Sluggish All The Time

Recently, protein has gotten all the praise. Praise for being the best fuel source for lasting energy without fluctuations in blood sugars.  Not so fast. Protein does take longer to digest than carbohydrates, and when eaten alone does not spike blood sugars up immediately.  However, some people on low-carb/only meat + protein diets often experience a “brain fog”. News flash: your brain needs glucose for energy AND so do your muscles.  If you are a little less focused and a little less powerful at the gym, might be because you are eating too much meat and not enough complex carbohydrates! Add plants to your plate! Not sure how? Start here: The Truth About Carbs (Good vs Bad Carbs).

Your Hair + Skin May Have Lost Their Glow

Again, if you are overdoing it on the meat, you are likely underdoing it with other food groups. Another news flash for you: there is absolutely no vitamin C in animal products. Your body needs vitamin C for healthy skin and hair (amongst other things). One cup of kale or spinach meets your vitamin C requirement.  But if your plate is filled with only a piece of chicken, some cheese cubes, and a hard boiled egg … ummmmm … no vitamins! This article: What Is A Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet? will certainly help you figure out how to reconfigure your plate to incorporate more plants. 

Getting Sick More Often

Your body NEEDS colorful foods for a healthy immune system. There is no dancing around this. I have heard from people on keto and other very low carb diets who haven’t eaten a piece of fruit in months (even years!). WHAT?!? Why would you do that? When you eat colorful plants, it’s like fighting cancers and the flu and lots of other chronic and acute illnesses with each bite.  I know you all would take a pill to get better,  why not eat the fruit and fight it off in the first place? If you get sick a lot, this could be one your body’s signs that you should go plant-based.  In my other Tuesday Tips article: Immunity Boosting Foods, I go into more detail.

Constipation

One of the very first signs that your body will give you to warn you that you need more fiber or plants is bloating and constipation. If you fill your plate with lots of meat, you are likely leaving less room for the vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Above all, meat contains no fiber.  Fiber is critical for digestion and maintaining a healthy gut.  Without fiber, our bodies do not function well at all.  The gut controls so much more in our bodies than we give it credit for! If the gut is out of balance, everything is out of balance.  You NEED to make room for the good gut bacteria to grow in order to keep your entire body functioning properly.  Move over meat, make some room for the fuel with fiber. Check out this article to see how easy it is to incorporate high fiber plants into your every day life: Easy Ways To Eat More Plants.

Kidney Stones

Protein requires a lot of water for your body to process. When you consume more protein than your body actually requires, you need even more fluids to flush out the excess biproducts. If you don’t make up for your body’s increased water requirement, you are left dehydrated.  Chronic dehydration is one of the main reasons people form kidney stones.  Coupled with that, many meat products are high in sodium.  Excess sodium intake on top of inadequate water intake leaves your body highly susceptible to forming kidney stones.

Inflammation

High saturated fat intake increases inflammation in the body. Studied over and over again.  No arguing that point. I know you have heard the term “eat the rainbow”.  Eating the rainbow gives our bodies antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that our bodies use to fight inflammation.  When we eat processed foods + meats, our bodies recognize those foods as foreign chemicals and initiate an inflammatory response to figure out how to process those chemicals.  This, in turn, puts our bodies into a chronic state of inflammation making us more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, cardiac events, and a whole host of other conditions. Chronic inflammation is one of the most vital warning signs that you should go plant-based and should definitely not be ignored especially because it could lead to heart disease.  How To Eat For Heart Health is also how we should eat to keep inflammation in check. 

Weight Gain

Meat packs way more calories per bite than plant-based foods. I have discussed the concept of calorie density in my prior Tuesday Tips Calorie Density 101: How to Lose Weight Eating More Food. For simplicity, lets compare fattier cuts of meat and processed meats such as hamburgers, bacon, ham, deli meats, and sausage to broccoli, cauliflower, tofu, and even quinoa.  You can eat a notably larger portion of the plant foods mentioned with exponentially less fat and calories.  If I fill my lunch plate every day for one month with tofu, quinoa, and broccoli and my friend who is on a low-carbohydrate diet fills her plate with a few scrambled eggs, a slice of ham, and cheese, who do you think will gain weight at the end of the month? Same plate, same portion size.  Calorie density matters.  Your body will let you know if you are feeding it too much meat as the number on the scale creeps up.

Lipid Panel Numbers

Eating too much saturated fat increases cholesterol. No argument there.  Multiple studies have proven this.  Increased fiber intake also helps block the absorption of cholesterol.  Again, if you are consistently choosing red and processed meats, especially at the expense of produce, whole grains, and other high fiber foods, you are not protecting your heart and cardiovascular system from clogged arteries, stroke, or heart attack. Elevated total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and even triglycerides are another one of those signs that you should go plant-based.  Need a place to start? Check out my article: How to Lower Your Cholesterol.

Meat Sweats

Have you ever watched the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition? That is where I first learned about meat sweats. A minute or two into the competition, they all begin to sweat profusely! This is a real phenomenon and is thanks to something called diet-induced thermogenesis.  Protein requires the most energy to digest (compared to carbohydrates and fat).  Therefore, it has a bigger effect on this thermogenesis increasing body temperature and in turn, sweating.  If you find yourself consistently sweating with your meals, likely you are making your body work too hard to process all of the meat! Another warning sign that you should go plant-based! Hopefully some day there will be a plant-based hot dog eating contest.  I would love to see how many plant-based dogs Joey Chestnut could eat, and if he still sweats so much!

Headaches

Your constant headache might be your body telling you something about your diet! Our brains need glucose! Yes, carbohydrates. We NEED them! So, if you are getting lots of headaches, might be because you fill your plate with protein/meat and don’t leave room for healthy grains + fruit. By doing this, your brain doesn’t get glucose and you get a headache or even a brain fog. Your headache could also be because you are dehydrated.  When you eat a very high protein diet, your kidneys need to work overtime to process all of the protein coupled with the high sodium level in some of these meat products.  This is a recipe for dehydration disaster and could be to blame for your headaches. Constant headaches are nothing to ignore.  There are so many reasons for headaches! Dehydration and low blood glucose are only a few common causes.  If you suffer from headaches, see your healthcare provider!!!

Food For Thought

Remember, most vegetarians or vegans were once omnivores too.  For some, the switch gets flipped and they go plant-based and they feel tremendously better.  For others, replacing one meal per day or having one meatless day per week can alleviate some of the ailments.  You don’t need to go full vegetarian or vegan to reap the health benefits.  Simply focus on eating more of the right plants, cutting back on processed foods (plant or animal!), and monitoring how you feel when eating dairy and animal products.  It does not need to be daunting!

Sometimes it is just a matter of making more room on the plate for plants or swapping out one animal product for one whole grain or vegetable.  If fully embracing a plant-based diet feels intimidating, go slow and small and continue to monitor how you feel.  Above all, remember, the ailments above can be from lots of different causes.  Don’t ever overlook something and think by eating an apple you will fix it.  If you have a nagging symptom, see your health care provider! And, consult your health care provider or nutritionist to determine the right diet for you and your health conditions.

All the best,

Tara 💚

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